The World Trade Center was destroyed just days after a heightened security alert was lifted at the landmark 110-story towers, security personnel said yesterday.

Daria Coard, 37, a guard at Tower One, said the security detail had been working 12-hour shifts for the past two weeks because of numerous phone threats. But on Thursday, bomb-sniffing dogs were abruptly removed.

"Today was the first day there was not the extra security," Coard said. "We were protecting below. We had the ground covered. We didn't figure they would do it with planes. There is no way anyone could have stopped that."

Security guard Hermina Jones said officials had recently taken steps to secure the towers against aerial attacks by installing bulletproof windows and fireproof doors in the 22nd-floor computer command center.

"When the fire started, the room was sealed," said Jones, who was in the command center when explosions rocked the building. "Flames were shooting off the walls....We started putting wet towels under the doors. The Fire Department unsealed the door and grabbed us by the hand and said, 'Run!' "

Top Pentagon Officials Cancel Flights On September 10, 2001Free Press International

On Sept. 10, NEWSWEEK has learned, a group of top Pentagon officials suddenly canceled travel plans for the next morning, apparently because of security concerns. But no one even dreamed that four airliners would be hijacked and plunged into targets in New York and Washington. Some officials complain that the intelligence community has been too focused on terrorists obtaining weapons of mass destruction—biological, chemical and nuclear—while overlooking low-tech threats—like the use of penknives and box cutters to hijack a plane.

For Mayor Willie Brown, the first signs that something was amiss came late Monday when he got a call from what he described as his airport security - - a full eight hours before yesterday's string of terrorist attacks -- advising him that Americans should be cautious about their air travel.

The mayor, who was booked to fly to New York yesterday morning from San Francisco International Airport, said the call "didn't come in any alarming fashion, which is why I'm hesitant to make an alarming statement."

In fact, at the time, he didn't pay it much mind.

"It was not an abnormal call. I'm always concerned if my flight is going to be on time, and they always alert me when I ought to be careful."

Exactly where the call came from is a bit of a mystery. The mayor would say only that it came from "my security people at the airport."

Mike McCarron, assistant deputy director at SFO, said the Federal Aviation Administration "routinely" issues security notices about possible threats. He said two or three such notices have been received in the past couple of months,

but none in recent days.

Whatever the case, Brown didn't think about it again until he was up, dressed and waiting for his ride to the airport for an 8 a.m. flight to New York, where he was to attend a state retirement board meeting. That was when he turned on the TV, and like millions of other Americans, saw the twin towers of the World Trade Center crumble and the Pentagon go up in smoke.

Before the mayor was even out the door, District Attorney Terence Hallinan - - the man Brown said just last week should be recalled -- was checking in and offering help.

What followed was a conversation made up of equal parts gravity and formality.

"You know, you're the first call I've gotten on this," Brown said to Hallinan, as they were signing off.

With that, the mayor hung up and headed for City Hall. Along the way, he made the call to close all city buildings for the day and city schools as well.

He also talked with representatives of the Bank of America building and the Transamerica Pyramid, who agreed that because the structures were such high- profile symbols they too should be closed for the day.

Once Brown arrived at City Hall, calls were made in quick order to Municipal Railway director Michael Burns: "I want a complete backup in case anything happens to the subway tunnels," Brown said.

The Coast Guard: "To make sure the bridges were being protected."

And to the health, police and fire departments to make sure they were staffed for the emergency.

The last call went to Tom Ammiano, the mayor's longtime political nemesis and president of the Board of Supervisors.

"We may have to declare a state of emergency, although it's not something I want to do at this point because it kicks in all sorts of things -- but we may have to be ready," the mayor said.

Ammiano apparently agreed, because an hour or so later -- when the two sat next to each other at a city department heads meeting at the command center -- the call was made for only a "limited" state of emergency. One that would allow the courts, city offices and schools to close, but still keep the city pretty much in working order.

"What I want," the mayor said, "is for things to be to run as normally as possible, but sagely."

And for the most part they did. As for what comes next?

"With any luck, we'll be back to normal by tomorrow -- but with a heightened sense of awareness," Brown said as he sipped coffee with reporters at Citizen Cake on Grove Street.

But as for long-term safety?

"We can only do what we can," the mayor said, adding, "Hell, if they can't protect the Pentagon from attack, what can they protect?"

According to BART information officer Ron Rodriguez, a memorandum went out yesterday ordering all station rest rooms to be locked until further notice. They've also put out the word to watch for suspicious packages.

THE OTHER BROWN: Over in Oakland, Mayor Jerry Brown was trying his best to keep things normal as well.

"We're carrying on," Brown said. "I think the most important thing is for people to stay calm and understand that the power of terrorism is psychological.

"The goal is to sow disunity and to undermine our faith in the leadership of the country."

A few blocks away, Democratic pollster Paul Maslin sat in his office high- rise and wondered about the long-term effect of the attacks.

"It's like one part Pearl Harbor, one part Northern Ireland and one part I don't know what," was how Maslin summed it up.

Maslin -- who does polling for Gov. Gray Davis, among others -- said the strangest call he got yesterday was from one of the biggest Democratic consultants in Washington, D.C., who had just bolted his apartment.

"This was a grown man in his 50s, and he was scared out of his wits because he'd heard that a second plane was headed for the Pentagon," Maslin said.

"We can't even begin to gauge the long-term effects of this yet, but I will say, I don't think we'll ever be the same."

_____________________________________________________________

Another coinicidence.............
Lucky Willie to have such infomation in advance

Hospital Worker: I Saw OsamaAccused Terrorist Said To Have Had Dialysis On Sept. 10

Jan. 28, 2002

(CBS) Everyone remembers what happened on Sept. 11 and, reports CBS News Correspondent Barry Petersen, here's the story of what may have happened the night before.

In a tale as twisted as the hunt for Osama bin Laden, CBS Evening News has been told that the night before the Sept. 11 terrorists attack, Osama bin Laden was in Pakistan. He was getting medical treatment with the support of the very military that days later pledged its backing for the U.S. war on terror in Afghanistan.

Pakistan intelligence sources tell CBS News that bin Laden was spirited into a military hospital in Rawalpindi for kidney dialysis treatment.

"On that night," said a medical worker who wanted her identity protected, "they moved out all the regular staff in the urology department and sent in a secret team to replace them." She said it was treatment for a very special person and "the special team was obviously up to no good."

"They military had him surrounded," said a hospital employee who also wanted his identity masked, "and I saw the mysterious patient helped out of a car. Since that time," he said, "I have seen many pictures of the man. He is the man we know as Osama bin Laden. I also heard two army officers talking to each other. They were saying that Osama bin Laden had to be watched carefully and looked after."

Those who know bin Laden say he suffers from numerous ailments — back and stomach problems.

Ahmed Rashid, who has written extensively on the Taliban, said the military was often there to help before Sept. 11.

"There were reports that Pakistan intelligence had helped the Taliban buy dialysis machines and the rumor was that these were for wanted for Osama bin Laden," said Rashid.

The scene at NORAD on Sept. 11: Playing Russian war games ... and then someone shouted to look at the monitorToronto Star9 December 2001

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - EARLY morning, Sept. 11. A lifetime before the attacks on New York and Washington.
Deep inside a mountain in Colorado and far beneath the granite of North Bay, members of the North American Aerospace Defence Command (NORAD) are at full "battle staff" levels for a major annual exercise that tests every facet of the organization.

Operation Northern Vigilance, planned months in advance, involves deploying fighter jets to locations in Alaska and northern Canada. Part of this exercise is pure simulation, but part is real world: NORAD is keeping a close eye on the Russians, who have dispatched long-range bombers to their own high north on a similar exercise.

_____________________________________________________________

Coincidence that the air defences were busy somewhere else on the day the air disasters happened

Migya 1 thing your arguement is lacking, is the photos. i'm already believing Breezers account purely by the images ( i see it with my own eyes )

Some spook can sit in his basement and type up these lies you talk about.. but until i see George W Bush or Condolezza Rice in a pre-September 11th photo drinking Pina Coladas with Osama then my mind will be very hard to change.

LETS ALL CHANGE PACE. DID MAN LAND ON MOON? PEOPLE SAY THAT WAS A CONSPIRACY THEORY BUT HOW COME IT'S GOING TO TAKE NASA ANOTHER 14 YEARS TO GET a HUMAN THERE ( WHAT HAPPENED TO TECHNOLOGY ADVANCEMENT )

I did say I wasn't going to post in this thread anymore didn't I?? Well I swear this is the last time, cross my heart and hope to die.....

Migya, I see alot of articles, only one of which however that has anything to do with the Pentagon. Funnily enough, this was the one I found most hilarious.

On Sept. 10, NEWSWEEK has learned, a group of top Pentagon officials suddenly canceled travel plans for the next morning, apparently because of security concerns. But no one even dreamed that four airliners would be hijacked and plunged into targets in New York and Washington.

So what are you telling me here?? That PENTAGON officials cancelled trips because they knew what was coming....and yet OMG they decided to stay at the Pentagon.....in the line of fire . I just.....Oh man, come on.

I guess one other thing that really gets me about this whole debate is that, if the US Government had in fact planned all these attacks as you say....why on God's green earth wouldn't they have just hijacked the planes and oh I don't know.....crash them into a building?? Oh wait, that did happen. Do you see where I'm going with this Migya? You're an intelligent guy. Why go to the trouble and expense of shooting a missile or a Global Hawk into a building and THEN planting evidence, when you could just hijack and crash the plane????

Anyway guys I really am over this topic now. I swear I'll never post in here again....ever. Promise!

O.G pawnograffiti wrote:Migya 1 thing your arguement is lacking, is the photos. i'm already believing Breezers account purely by the images ( i see it with my own eyes )

Some spook can sit in his basement and type up these lies you talk about.. but until i see George W Bush or Condolezza Rice in a pre-September 11th photo drinking Pina Coladas with Osama then my mind will be very hard to change.

LETS ALL CHANGE PACE. DID MAN LAND ON MOON? PEOPLE SAY THAT WAS A CONSPIRACY THEORY BUT HOW COME IT'S GOING TO TAKE NASA ANOTHER 14 YEARS TO GET a HUMAN THERE ( WHAT HAPPENED TO TECHNOLOGY ADVANCEMENT )

You are one of these dumb arse priks that needs to have things put right in front of their face to see anything!

It is so easy for the bad guys to get away with everything with people like that!

Like I said, that is why humanity is in the state it is - People let it get this why

breezer_79 wrote:I did say I wasn't going to post in this thread anymore didn't I?? Well I swear this is the last time, cross my heart and hope to die.....

Migya, I see alot of articles, only one of which however that has anything to do with the Pentagon. Funnily enough, this was the one I found most hilarious.

On Sept. 10, NEWSWEEK has learned, a group of top Pentagon officials suddenly canceled travel plans for the next morning, apparently because of security concerns. But no one even dreamed that four airliners would be hijacked and plunged into targets in New York and Washington.

So what are you telling me here?? That PENTAGON officials cancelled trips because they knew what was coming....and yet OMG they decided to stay at the Pentagon.....in the line of fire . I just.....Oh man, come on.

I guess one other thing that really gets me about this whole debate is that, if the US Government had in fact planned all these attacks as you say....why on God's green earth wouldn't they have just hijacked the planes and oh I don't know.....crash them into a building?? Oh wait, that did happen. Do you see where I'm going with this Migya? You're an intelligent guy. Why go to the trouble and expense of shooting a missile or a Global Hawk into a building and THEN planting evidence, when you could just hijack and crash the plane????

Anyway guys I really am over this topic now. I swear I'll never post in here again....ever. Promise!

Cheers.

The articles have a reference to Sept 11th!

They did control the planes! They weren't hijacked at all and the arabs that were said to have hijacked the planes, many are alive in working in their countries! That sort of fuks the story of the hijackers!

So ... the reason why people fight is because they are passionate about their positions ... ??? Certainly they disagree about the facts. The facts one seems to be willing to accept all tend to be those that support their positions. Justify their positions? Even when we can be relatively certain that neither has any special "access" to the true facts, whatever they might be.

So ... how do we bring these people together?
How do we organize the world so that these disagreements don't end up
in bullets?

Anybody seen ANYTHING at ALL about Lebanon in the News lately?
Let's see ... they were blowing the schitt out of each other ... then
there was a cease fire ... I guess it took ... because I haven't seen or heard ONE WORD since?

I do, however, recall the brief period of time when "reporters" were filming and interviewing in Lebanon. The thing that struck me most was the "passion" of those who had just had their homes blown up.

They apparently weren't too happy, were passionate about what they thought of the Israeli's. Wouldn't you be? I think I already mentioned somewhere that "the other guys" seem to be totally intent, goal oriented, passionate about the notion that one of their main missions in life is
to blow Israel off the map.

And this, in answer to prayer?

We will be able to celebrate together when the Warriors Win The Championship though, won't we ?

SoCooLBob wrote:So ... the reason why people fight is because they are passionate about their positions ... ???

Some of them. Other just fight 'cos they're "machos" and that's what "machos" are supposed to do... of course, this is a disease commonly known as IDIOCY.

This argument is true when talking about individuals fighting each other, but when you are talking about world leaders fighting each other, its more than just being macho, it's about controling land and resources.

Thats exactly why we're (America) building permanate bases in the Middle East. That's where all the oil and best drugs are. Can you say $$$$.